


Stanley Cup Riptide

by orpwrks



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Eating Disorders, orthorexia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23406688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orpwrks/pseuds/orpwrks
Summary: sidney knew what he was doing was bad. he knows. but just, he needs to do this.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Stanley Cup Riptide

after morning skate sidney had been sitting in his stall trying to pull himself to getting dressed.  
his leg was pulsing in pain after working on it and he was hungry but he just sat. his lower leg was covered by the shirt he had meticulously dangled from the end of his hand to happen to fall over the injury from any wandering eyes.  
it clearly had a goose egg bump and just such obvious swelling and he just wanted to go home and ice and cortisone before the game. 

however, this plan was derailed by a voice from across the locker room. chris, his favorite trainer, called to him, 

"sid, can we see you for a minute?" sid grimaced but nodded none the less.  
he shoved on his sweatpants and hoodie before padding into the room barefoot.  
once inside the office, he took in the sight before him. the team doctor, three of the team's sports medicine guys, and half of the coaching staff all standing or sitting on the rolling stools the sport med crew loved. they motioned him to take a seat on the padded trainers table. 

the room sat in a momentary silence before sully broke it, "we know about your leg”.  
straight and direct, no other things ever being known as coming from sullivan. 

"what? i'm fine, i don't need project intervention in the trainer's room, sulls." sidney tried to use the small laugh and movement to stand up from the table as his get away. maybe some humor would clear up his biggest nightmare. 

chris put his hand on his not injured knee to stop his movements, "show us your leg, from what i've heard you can physically see how much it hurts." 

"i mean that's a little dramatic, chris." sidney rolled his eyes, stretching to see how long he could avoid the inevitable. 

the leveled look from both chris and sully made him feel that idea slip between his fingers like sand. he slowly reached down to gently fumble up the sweatpant's leg up to above the injury. 

the noise from sully and then the click from chris made sidney drop his head just a little. if you asked him later why he said it he probably couldn't have told you besides the words just slipped out,  
"i think it's a stress fracture" he mumbled, turning a little red with all the eyes on him and his bony bump.  
tony, the team doctor, rolled himself up close to the leg. 

"i'll order x-rays at the complex." he said before he turned towards the coaching staff, "he's off for a couple games at the absolute least." 

sidney's jaw dropped a little, "what? no, i'm fine on the ice, it doesn't effect my game! look at the numbers! please let me finish the cup run!" he tried to reason. 

sully's voice silenced the room for argument in the office, "sid, why in god's name would you continue to train on something you thought was a fracture without telling anyone?"  
the truth in sully's words rang loudly to everyone in the room, silencing sidney’s protests who again awkwardly put his head down. 

"sully, i'm at the top of my game right now, please." it was nothing less than pleading with his coach to drop the question and let him play. 

"no, you absolutely will not continue playing on this." sully's words reigned final and sid quietly nodded at the close of the conversation. 

the room cleared out after tony finished to poking around his injury assessing it as he could before his x-ray, leaving sidney alone.  
tony could only shake his head disappointedly in response to sidney asking who snitched on him. 

"shit, shit, shit. shit." sidney was mumbling to himself as mario walked into the room. he leg was tossed up on the padded table with an ice pack from tony as his shaking hands held his head up in his lap.  
mario came to take a seat next to his raised foot. 

"i'm sorry, mario. i tried to tell them not to call you down, i know you said you were stacked today." sid chewed at his lip seeing his former captain have to come down to deal with sid. 

"sid, you're family. i would drop everything for you and you know that. and this is an issue, that me and you will figure out, together." sid's cowered his head a little in shame. 

"so i think i might've heard a little something as to why this situation may have arisen.." mario started as sid's head continued to fall. his eyes raised up with a look of confusion, hoping to play innocence. 

“i want you to see a specialist. you don’t have to, but i want you to.” mario said calmly, sliding him a business card across the trainers table: 

sarah hasca, psychologist, eating disorder specialist. 

“she works at UPMC in their eating disorder clinic and can provide discreetness.” mario added on.  
sidney’s hands gently shook as he slid the card towards him and into his pocket. 

“who told on me? geno?” mario gently slid his arm around sid’s shoulders and squeezed, his lips pulled in a tight line. 

“sid, please. you are my family and i want you taken care of, please just go”

**Author's Note:**

> i can’t even remember where i wrote this. it’s just been sitting in my notes for like months.


End file.
